Not having much luck with my Planet X so far... broken bolt in front derailleur now

joker77

Bought the bike in October, and I'd say I've done about 500-600Kms on it so far, not a whole lot you would say.

First incident was 2 simultaneous punctures, hit a large pothole disguised as a puddle so nothing I could do about that. Not great fun walking home in the rain though, lucky I was only 4km from home. That was in November.

Second was the free hub body being trapped, took it over to Mr. Skeffington to fix about 2 weeks ago, all good afterwards - it got a general service as well, everything tightened up.

The third thing is that I've already had to replace the chain. While I was over with Skeff I showed him a link in the chain I wasn't sure about, and he confirmed it was broken and had to be taken out. He did that, but said I'd be better off getting a new chain see as the re-attached link would be a little weaker than the rest, not ideal for a chain.

The fourth is just after happening now, and I have to say its the most annoying - and unfathomable as to how it happened as I haven't ridden the bike since last Saturday. It was great on Saturday - out to Blessington and back, no issues.

I'll try to explain now (aided with pictures - excuse the dirt, the bike was due a clean this weekend after my spin). Please excuse my lack of the appropriate bike terminology. The cable that runs down to the front derailleur is secured with a bolt yea? Well, this bolt has SNAPPED, with half it left inside where it screws. See pictures. I'm trying to contain my rage while typing this. Is this just the height of bad luck, or is there a rational explanation?

Ok how and why it happened aside. Assuming I cannot get the remaining bit out, what is the name of the part I need to get replaced, and how do I go about getting it replaced? I was hoping to get out for a decent spin on Saturday. I'm just up the road from Joe Daly's - I'm might give them a ring tomorrow and see what they say, I could bring it up first thing on Saturday morning, provided they had the parts. I don't think the remaining bit of the bolt will come out - I tried to screw another one in to push it out, but the threads didn't like this and I think they may now be screwed. It's a Shimano Ultegra 6700.
It looks like replacing the whole front derailleur?

Am I cursed with bad luck?

copacetic

if you haven't messed up the threads too much it should be possible to get it out, just need to drill a few shallow holes to make a small slot and use a screwdriver to twist it out. Then you just need to get a new bolt. unusual one though, not seen much like it before..

DirkVoodoo

Ouch!

Not much consolation but your beef is with Shimano and not planet-x, unless they built it in which case it could have been over torqued, but it could easily have been a dodgy bolt. Did it snap at the head of the bolt? That's pretty much where the highest stress will be, a washer would sort it out.

Just a new bolt is needed I'm guessing?

Ah,sorry saw first photo there!

DirkVoodoo

I agree with the drilling like Copacetic says.

joker77

Yea the bolt snapped halfway inside, very very odd place for it to go

IM0

am I cursed with bad luck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmDX0tgONFs

seriously that is just bananas for the screw to have snapped

Lumen

Stuff breaks, it's not a big deal.

With the right tools it is a trivial task to extract a snapped bolt. If you've damaged the threads it could be a bit more difficult, but it's probably not unsalvageable.

DirkVoodoo

If the worst comes to the worst, a new clamp on derailleur is only 44 euro, but if you email planet x and show them the photos they might send you a new one for free. If it was a shop I would be wheeling it back in after 500kms.

Mr. Skeffington

Hi Joker,

The bolt is an M5 x 8 Cable fixing bolt & plate. It should not be too difficult to remove the broken section of bolt from the front derailleur. Then it just needs to be replaced, I have some here if you want to drop over. Joe Dalys should also be able to help you out. You should not need to replace the front derailleur.

Skeff

dave2pvd

Yep. Not a big deal. There are bits that can be used to extract a broken bolt. Easy Out is the trademark I know. A well equipped shop ought to have these in their armory. I'd imagine Dave at Joe Daly's has a set carefully hidden down below (of course I am thinking of the old shop...).

Repairing the threads is straight forward. A tapered tap (M5?) will take care of it. JD's will have one of those too.

blorg

Don't take this the wrong way, but your bike looks filthy.

I had a gear cable snap today, on my tourer. It happens.

joker77

blorg wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way, but your bike looks filthy.

I had a gear cable snap today, on my tourer. It happens.

Ha yes the pictures make it look a lot worse than it actually is, because they are taken with the macro function on and at close range. It's only been out a couple of times since the last big wash, and that's a new chain (going to re-edit my original post, that was actually the 3rd thing that went wrong) - the chain has only been used once.

It terms of 'it happens' - yea I know, but I just don't think stuff should be happening as frequently!

lescol

:eek:The bike is cursed, whatever you put on will suffer breakdown, best get rid of the whole thing. By the way what size is it?:D

Seriously, bad luck on a series of minor problems, I'm sure the bikes componentry will be sorted and you'll enjoy a fine bike.